MSF stops some operations in Sudan

Johannesburg - The charity Medecins Sans Frontieres will partially stop humanitarian operations in Sudan due to obstruction by the authorities.

It said on Thursday that its Brussels-based section was leaving the Blue Nile, East Darfur and South Darfur states where it was being "systematically denied access" to hundreds of thousands of displaced people through closures of activities, administrative obstacles and blockages.

Other MSF sections will continue to work in the north-eastern African country, where ethnically based rebellions against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum have displaced millions of people.

Accusations

"The Sudanese government's approach to international humanitarian presence in the conflict areas was starkly revealed last week when a Sudanese air force fighter jet targeted and bombed a hospital run by our MSF colleagues in South Kordofan state," said Bart Janssens, operations director for MSF in Brussels.

A Sudanese government representative denied the accusations, saying that "the government did not make any obstructions and blockage on the work of the organisation in Sudan."

"With regard to the Blue Nile and the areas [where] the organisation said [the government] did not grant permission, the organisation has not made any request to work in these areas," said Mohamed Fadlallah Sirajuddin, acting commissioner of the governmental Sudan Humanitarian Aid Commission.